A confidential Navy report points the finger at the crew of the USS Greeneville for the Feb. 9 collision between the submarine and Japanese fishing trawler Ehime Maru.
The report documented a series of errors by the Greeneville crew in the moments before the collision. It also directly blamed the presence of civilians in the Greeneville's control room for disrupting communications among the submarine's crew members.
A less-crowded area around the periscope "could have dramatically improved this situation," according to the report.
The report stated that Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the skipper of the Greeneville, never learned from his fire control technician that the fishing vessel was less than 4,000 yards away.
In addition, the sub's executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald K. Pfeifer, told investigators that he believed that Waddle was preparing for an emergency blow drill too quickly. Pfeifer said that he didn't say anything because he didn't want to challenge his commander in the presence of civilian guests.
Among the report's other conclusions:
- The crew committed "fundamental" errors in not properly tracking the Ehime Maru using a practice known as Target Motion Analysis. The procedure could have allowed the fire control technician to plot the distance of the Ehime Maru's sonar contact.
- The periscope search by Waddle and officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Michael J. Coen, was insufficient.
- The sonar room was improperly manned because one of the operators on duty was a trainee.
- The crew uneccesarily classified a sonar analyzer as malfunctioning. According to the report, one of the analyzer's two displays could have worked, providing the crew with a sonar signal of the Ehime Maru that Waddle could have evaluated first hand.
Commissioned: Feb. 16, 1996
Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarine
Homeported in Pearl Harbor in March 1997
Max crew: 130
Specs:
499 tons
190.8 feet long
30.5 feet wide
Max crew: 76
Sources said that Waddle told Navy investigators that he was aware, based on sonar readings, that a ship was in the vicinity of the Greeneville before he began the sub's emergency blow drill.
Waddle maintained that when he looked through the periscope, he saw nothing. He also said that he was not warned of any danger by the fire control technician, whose job it was to plot the positions of any surrounding traffic.
Waddle has not publicly discussed the incident.
Sources said that the fire control technician calculated that the Greeneville and Ehime Maru were just 2,000 yards apart at one point, but "arbitrarily moved" the plotted position to 9,000 yards because he thought he made an error after Waddle pronounced the surface clear of traffic based on a periscope check.
The report said that sonar operators may have interpreted the signal that came from the Ehime Maru as being too small to come from a large fishing vessel.
The Greeneville crew's theory is that the 180-foot vessel was heading directly towards the sub, according to the report. Sub experts said that if the Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville were headed toward each other, a phenomenon known as "bow null" may have occurred in which the hull of the Japanese vessel would have lessened its detectible engine noise.
It would have also made the vessel more difficult to see through a periscope.
"(Waddle) just didn't see the ship," sources told the
Washington Times. "It was camouflaged, basically, and he had a very narrow aspect to look at. He was apparently looking close to a bow-on-bow view."
The Navy officials said that the Greeneville was often picked to host civilian VIPs because Waddle was considered one of the Pacific Fleet's top sub commanders, his ship was always clean and well-equipped, and his crew was polite and professional.
In the words of the report, "the crew wanted to put on a good show."
Top Admiral On Way To Tokyo
A top Navy admiral is being dispatched to Tokyo to offer apologies and deliver a letter from President Bush about the sinking of the Ehime Maru.
The move to send Adm. William Fallon to Japan comes in the face of emotional protests in Japan over the Greeneville's sinking of the high school training boat.
Fallon, vice chief of naval operations, is the Navy's second-highest ranking officer. Nine people are missing and presumed dead.
The Pentagon said that Fallon will reiterate apologies offered earlier by Bush and other administration officials. He will also update the Japanese on the investigation and discuss prospects for salvaging the Japanese vessel, which sank in 2,000 feet of water.
Previous Stories:
- February 22, 2001: Navy Delays Greeneville Inquiry
- February 21, 2001: Navy Court Of Inquiry Could Be Delayed
- February 20, 2001: Greeneville Saw Ship An Hour Before Collision
- February 20, 2001: Navy Likely To Raise Ehime Maru
- February 20, 2001: Sub Mishap Survivors Still Haunted
- February 19, 2001: Robot Sub Hauled Out For Repairs
- February 19, 2001: Tennessee Town Supports Sub Crew
- February 16, 2001: Search Continues While NTSB Interviews Sub Crew
- February 15, 2001: Police Warn Of Sub Victim Fund Scam
- February 15, 2001: Japanese Outraged Over Sub Revelation
- February 15, 2001: Two Island Residents On Greeneville
- February 15, 2001: Help Identify The Civilians On The Sub
- February 14, 2001: Sub Captain Could Face Criminal Inquiry
- February 13, 2001: OHA Responds To State Audit
- February 12, 2001: Bush Offers Prayer For Sub Victims
- February 12, 2001: NTSB Begins Sub Collision Probe
- February 11, 2001: Ehime Maru Captain Speaks
- February 11, 2001: Sub Commander Reassigned As Search Continues
- February 11, 2001: Sub Collided During Emergency Maneuver
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